YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN

posted on January 19th, 2013 at 3:38 PM by Steven Stanley


Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Sally, and Snoopy celebrate the life of a boy named Charlie Brown in the crowd-pleasing musical You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, now being given a positively irresistible guest production at North Hollywood’s intimate Theatre Banshee.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Musical, WOW!

FREUD’S LAST SESSION

posted on January 18th, 2013 at 6:44 PM by Steven Stanley


Maxwell Anderson did it in his 1936 play Mary Of Scotland. Steve Allen did it in his late 1970s TV series Meeting Of Minds. And now playwright Mark St. Germain does it in Freud’s Last Session.

What these writers have in common is that all three imagined what might have happened had famous historical figures actually met, like Anderson did with Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen Of Scots, or in the case of Germain’s off-Broadway smash, now playing at Santa Monica’s Broad Stage, the Father Of Psychoanalysis (and confirmed atheist) Sigmund Freud and the Chronicles Of Narnia creator (and Christian apologist) C. S. Lewis.
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posted in Drama, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

BRIAN ROBERT BURNS

posted on January 17th, 2013 at 6:51 PM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

THE MOTHERF**KER WITH THE HAT

posted on January 16th, 2013 at 3:46 PM by Steven Stanley


The play with arguably the most unprintable title in Broadway history now gets its West Coast Premiere at South Coast Repertory, once again providing mainstream publications, broadcast media, and SCR with the following dilemma—how to write or talk about a comedy whose title New York publications censored as either The ___________ With the Hat or The [Expletive] With the Hat or The Mother With The Hat (say what?), and whose “official” title is for most media the still unprintable The Motherf**cker With the Hat. Perhaps that’s why, despite the star power of Bobby Cannavale, Chris Rock, and Annabella Sciorra in the original New York cast and a total of six Tony nominations, popular playwright Stephen Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Broadway debut closed after a grand total of 28 previews and 112 performances.

Fortunately for South Coast Rep, The Motherfucker With The Hat (there, I’ve written it and will write it again) has generated enough buzz (it was the 8th most produced play in the U.S. last year) that even lacking name stars, that buzz—plus the rave reviews this sensational production has already generated—is likely to keep every one of the Julianne Argyros Stage’s 336 seats filled throughout its three-week run.
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posted in Comedy, Orange County, WOW!

JORDAN BECK & JONATHAN MAY

posted on January 15th, 2013 at 5:35 PM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

I LEFT MY HEART: A Salute To The Music Of Tony Bennett

posted on January 14th, 2013 at 8:12 PM by Steven Stanley


“I Wanna Be Around,” “Rags To Riches,” “Stranger In Paradise,” “The Good Life,” “The Shadow Of Your Smile,” “Where Do I Begin,” and of course “I Left My Heart In San Francisco.” Hear this list of song titles and there’s only one name likely to pop into any music lover’s head—Tony Bennett, a star since his very first Number One record, “Because Of You,” topped the charts way back in 1951 and still going strong at age 86, with seven concert dates coming up in the next month alone.
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posted in Musical Revue, San Gabriel Valley, WOW!

[title of show]

posted on January 13th, 2013 at 12:19 PM by Steven Stanley


Santa Ana’s Theatre Out opens what looks to be its most exciting season to date with the Tony-nominated [title of show], a four-performer musical every bit as unique as its title, and one which offers OC audiences a combination of non-stop hilarity, bouncy songs with some inspired lyrics, and a quartet of delightful performances under the imaginative direction of three-time Scenie winner Tito Ortiz (who also choreographs this time round).
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posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

THE RAINMAKER

posted on January 12th, 2013 at 2:36 PM by Steven Stanley


Few plays from the 1950s hold up as well as L. Richard Nash’s folksy 1954 romance The Rainmaker. Those needing proof of the above need simply to head out to Santa Monica’s Edgemar Center For The Arts where Tanna Frederick and Robert Standley head the cast of director Jack Heller’s pitch-perfect revival of this ‘50s gem.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

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